I live in the city and all around my home new buildings are being constructed. Walking one morning, I stopped to watch a crane in action. What I saw was elegance and purpose at work, and it was exquisite.
What does a building site crane have to do with elegance and purpose?
As I watched the crane, I got to feel how it works: slow, purposeful, unhurried, and focussed. It lifted large heavy items, gently and precisely placing them where they needed to go. This to me was beauty in motion.
It was very easy to feel how different this picture would be if the driver was in a hurry, distracted, rushing to get something done, tired, tense or even trying too hard… this would be seen, felt and magnified in every movement of the crane, immediately. Instead of seeing elegance and purpose at work, I would have been watching something rough and even dangerous.
Because of its sheer size, a crane cannot help but magnify the quality in which the driver operates it.
I found myself imagining how uncomfortable it would be to see something that large working in a zippy, rushing way, yet this is exactly how I can operate in my day to ‘get things done’. Standing there, I could feel how much havoc I can wreak on the worksite of my life and upon all those I share it with when I move and operate in a rush, and with nervous energy.
It is easy to see how bumping into things as a human being can leave me with a bruise, a scratch or a cut: on the level of a crane, these same bumps can be disastrous, costly and even deadly. The crane driver knows he is responsible not just for moving things from A to B, but for moving them safely, carefully and efficiently within a busy worksite, without bumping or damaging anything or any one of the many workers around the site.
On the human level, it is much easier to brush off the bumps, bruises or spilling consequences of rushing and just keep going; when on the crane level these consequences are followed with an immediate stop and investigation.
Living even just one day with this level of accountability for the way I move might just explain how I can reach the end of some days feeling battered and messy without really understanding why.
Rushing seems to get things done, but if the crane driver followed this theory, it would show that the opposite is true: rushing makes a mess, effectively slowing things down when the intention is to speed them up.
Elegance and purpose are a crane driver’s only way of operating. There is much beauty to feel and see in this level of commitment, awareness and care in action. It is an unexpected reminder of how I can move and conduct myself with this same elegance and purpose in my own body in the ‘work site’ of my daily life.
Inspired by the work and movement of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.
By Adrienne Hutchins, Funeral Director, Brisbane, Australia
Further Reading:
Stillness
The Nature of Energy: A Bathtub Lesson
Rush Rush Rush
918 Comments
Work is exhausting if we don’t have true purpose.
I’ve always felt these machines we operate are but an extension of our selves and therefore we have a great responsibility, just as in the way we move our bodies, with how we operate them. Such a lovely reminder on energy and how it magnifies though our movements.
There are so many negative aspects to going into nervous tension at work but one that I am very aware of is how I am unable to truly be with another person. I am so internally and externally wound up and my focus is fixed on ‘getting on’ that I’m not able to truly connect with another, be that via email, on the phone or face to face. The other person receives nothing from me other than tension.
The elegance and purpose of a crane at work or the frantic, mad workings of an overwound clock ? I have experienced being both at work this week. Halfway through the week I got to feel how absolutely dreadful it was to be a busted clock on speed and basically made the decision to not be that anymore. What was incredible to feel was that when I realised that a colleague had not done something that I then had to do on top of my already intense work load, was that the moment I started to go into a rushed panic I stopped, slowed down and took my time. Consequently when I left work my body was relaxed and not battered from the tension of going into nervous tension.
‘Living even just one day with this level of accountability for the way I move might just explain how I can reach the end of some days feeling battered and messy without really understanding why‘. Adrienne I can relate to what you share here. There have been a few days recently when I have felt very sore across my upper back and it has been because of the way that I have contracted and hunched over my work in a mad frenzy to get it done. It felt nothing short of dreadful but at the time I felt unable to stop. Since that day I have committed to keeping my body relaxed and the difference to how I feel st the end of the day is quite miraculous.
Being delicate in my day makes all the difference to the quality of work I produce and the connection I make that day.
“‘What I saw was elegance and purpose at work, and it was exquisite.’’ So even the mighty crane can offer us a reflection for us to learn the humble simplicity of being ourselves in all situations.
To observe the reflections that are in harmony with the universe around us we can be inspired to live the same quality in action. The reflections can be so supportive when we just stop and be open sensing and surrendering to everything that is being offered to us in that moment.
I love this; ‘What I saw was elegance and purpose at work, and it was exquisite.’ When I feel elegant, tender and purposeful at work I feel unstoppable, I feel full of energy and ready for whatever comes along, I love connecting with people and the day flows and there is a beautiful rhythm to it. I also work in a rushed, hard way sometimes and this feels awful, so thank you for the reminder to work with elegance and purpose.
When working with purpose and elegance our spine gets to lengthen and our body gets to expand but when we are working with nervous tension our spine is short and our body contracted. Both ways of being have a knock on effect to every other part of our body, including our organs. When we are contracted we cut off our access to universal intelligence, therefore making everything that we’re trying to do harder.
It might sound simple to work with delicateness, focus and a presence that is still, but in the intense working environment it can be a challenge to maintain and hold this. Not going into the rush, drive and hardness feels fabulous when working, but this is a work in progress and is certainly in development.